Combined corset and brassiere



Dec. 4, 1928.

L. E. SCOFIELD COMBINED CORSET AND BRAssIfiRE Filed Nov. 24, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 44 ll imhTl' 1 ill Dec. 4, 1928.

Y L. E. SCOFIELD COMBINED CORSET AND BRASSIERE Filed Nov. 24, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 HIIHIWII 4 ANL 'SCFLU Dec. 4, 1928.

COMBINED CORSET AND BHASSIERE Filed NOV. 24, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 I I INVENTOR $4M M A a; MN 4. Goof- 4 0 moii'NEY s 1' 1,693,799 L. E. SCOFIELD Patented Dec. 4, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LILLLAN E. SCOFIELD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

comnmnn CORSET AND BnAssIER Application filed November 24, 1925. "Serial No. 71,252.

edy certain defects met with in theordinary type of corset. l... 4 .'With the ordinary corset, the compressive forces are all substantially horizontal, that is to say, the forces have no vertical components, and the forces on a given horizontal plane are equal and balanced, so that there is no tendency for the corset to straighten up the body of'the wearer to the correct posture.

Oneof the essential and basic ideas involved in this corset is to' provide a garment which imposes at diiferentlev'elsforces acting in directions'so as to forni a couple which tends to straighten up the-body to correct standing posit1on.

In the case of the average stout woman,

the stomach and abdomen tend to project too far to the front and the seat tends to project too far to the rear, thus throwing the center of gravity of the body off of the proper vertical line, a situation which ofttimes results in backache for the woman.

The effect of such drooping of the bod results in a deformation of the skeleton rom its proper erect position. The backbone lea s forward, the ribs are forced together, and the shoulder blades are tipped outward. \I have found that if the skeleton is restored to its proper erect position, the abdomen will take its natural shape without applying sensible pressure thereto. I have also discovered that this restoration of the bones of the body to their proper position cannot be effected by an horizontal tensions nor by vertical stays, but can only be corrected by the application of forces actin as a coup e and that the couple must be app ied with one force acting upwardly and rearwardly under the breasts, with the other force of the couple applied inwardly at the hips. Such a couple will tend to straighten up the backbone, pivoting the body on the hip joint to itsproper vertical position, expandlng the anterior ribs .and forcing in the shoulder blades. v

My invention comprises means to make such a couple effective, I provide an anterior member in the form of a brassiere and a'posterior member back of the hips and connect the two members with diagonal bands of a combined corset and'brassire' which'has een particularly designed 'torem-.

alternate cloth and elastic members. Anchorages must bev provided. Forthe lower anchorage I extend a diagonal band from the compressive member posterior to the hips to garters secured in front of the leg to a stocking. For the upper anchorage I extend straps passing over the top of the shoulders froma' cloth member on the shoulder blades to apply an elastic straightening-up force toreleton of the body without applying the s severe circumferential compression at any one point. Owing to the anchorages on the legs and the shoulders, the vertical tensions en-.

gendered by the. diagonal elastic bands will all be added together and applied tothe vertical members of the skeleton of the wearer or, toput it in another way, the-various horizontal forces applied to the front of the leg, the rearofthe hips, and shoulder blades and under the breasts, are made to result' in couples tending to straighten up the body on the hip joint as a hinge, the longitudinal tensions engendered thereby being all borne by the vertical members of the skeleton.

In the'drawingsf I F Figure l-is a front view of the garment applied to a figure.

" Figure 2 is a side view of the same.

Figure 3 is a rear 'view of the same. Figure 4 is a rcar-view-of,the same in a stooping position.

Figure 5 is 'a view of the same cut in two and laid out in tum.

The back of the corset is composed of five rectangular pieces ofelastic webbing 70-,

71-72- 73 and 74. alternatingly seainedto five pieces'of cloth 7 576777 8 and 79. Two of these cloth members 75 and 7 6 areat the base of the garment and with the elastic webbing 70 between them, form a posterior member adapted to press yieldingly against the seat of the wearer, the elasticity of the web 70 being sufficient to allow the expansion of the hips that follows when the wearer takes a sitting position. These lower pieces of cloth are made of tiapezoidal form each having its diagonal edge seamed to the central elastic band ,70. This manner of attachment disposes these pieces diagonally to the vertical and their angle of inclination, which should be about 45,determines the angles of all the other pieces of the vback as all the other pieces have their edges either parallel or at position. Garters 80 and 81 lead off at right 1 anglesfrom these lower cloth members and. when secured to a stocking form a means of; anchoring the saidlower members forward of the leg, so as to induce a forward pull on the said members. Side garters 82 may also be provided. The forward pull of the gar;

ters passes diagonally across the seat of the wearer and thence thru elastic bands 7l74 strain is passed, on thru side fillers 83 to an different for different figures.

and cloth side members 77-'-79 where the anterior, cloth member 84. The side pieces 77-'--7 9 are also trapezoidal and are complementary to the-lower members 75 76; in their case the diagonal 'or bias sides being seemed to the fillers 83. The angle of the bias of these trapezoidal members Will be slightly Thus for example, if .the wearer is shorter between the upper and lower convexes of the rear of the torso, the said angle may be increased as for example, to

and an angular top with its apex adapted to lie between the breasts of the wearer. From. 7

'ble thickness with the finished side of the i this apex, straps-85 extend diagonally to points overthe breasts, where they are secured to complementary straps 86 leading 1 from the back of the garment to which they terior member. upper straps 85-86Qshoulder straps 89 which Y may have are secured by straps 87.- From the junction of the straps '86 and 87, other straps 88 pass to the base of the angular top of'the an- From t e junction of. the

uckles 90 are adapted to'pass, over the shoulders of the wearer and are securedto the to member 78-0f the back part of the corset. estraps 85-86 and 88 with the diagonals of the apex of the anterior member 84, form metrical pear-shaped quadrilaterals which are coveredwith net or other suitable fabric, preferably gathered at the lower, edges so as to-form pockets for sustaining the breasts. The effect of the weight of thev breasts will; bepassed up thru the shoulder straps and down thrajihe' back members, over the shoulder blades and hips and thence forward through the garters to- J exert a-rearward force, onthe legs at the knees. It will be seen "fromthe construe;

tion that while the stresses all followdiag onal lines thus giving lateral expansion,

they result in a purely forward and back couple. Starting from the garter anchorage the passes diag-r many by means oft e garters and the baseat the front of the le pieces -76 to the seat of-the fwearer. From thence the; diagonally upward against the knee and t I The anterior member 84 has a horizontal lower edge, two vertical sides.

1 front and forward thru elastic bands 71-74 and side members 7 77 9 to the anterior member 84, and to the shoulder blade member 78.

The top back member 78 exerts its forward ullby resting on the upper convex of the ack. It will be observed that thediagonal pics; are generated that have for their horizontal factors forward stresses against the and rearward forces e anterior upper. ribs. The effect of these couples is to tend to straighten up the body of the wearer. The stresses being all along diagonal lines, there shoulder blades and hips is no need for, and it is a prime object of this invention to prevent, such compression around horizontal zones as is a common feature of corsets. With my 1m roved garment,

the body is free to expand aterallyat any part, as clearly shown in Fi ure 4. The elastic members 7074surroun ing the open Space yield in all directions to the expansions which all center in the middle of the back. It will be seen too that the stresses transmitted to the part 78 are redistributed diagonally right and left to the sides and from thence are again redistributeddiagonally to the garters, particularly the inner garters. I prefer to-makethe cloth members of doucloth turned towardthe outside. This gives a very strong construction and a finished. ap-

pearance. It is importantelso to insure that the warp and weft of the cloth members shall run in the proper directions to properly carry thestresses. .In' the drawings I have indicated in each member the warp threads by full lines and the weft by dotted lines. .By

careful observance of these points, the lines leg, 0. brassiere, and shoulder straps extend ing from said posterior members to said brassiere whereby the strain fromthe weightoff I a 0- 120, ly s ba k and thence diagona y. over the hips'isrtak'ennp by the garters-t0 the breasts pa'med over the shoulders va. a" backward effect" on each leg at the ee balanced againsta-forwardeflect on the I v hips andshoulder blades to to straighten up the-frame of the wearer. 2. An. undergarment' mprising" mri o' hip members, garters extending 3 m the leg "to the pdsterior hip members'tend of the knee, diagonally toboth sides of ing to. straighten the knees and throw the upper parts of the thigh bones forward, an anterior member, diagonal elastic members connected thereto, shoulder straps, and a brassiere connected by the shoulder straps through diagonal elastic members to the sides of the anterior member and to the hip members so that the weight of the breasts will be lifted off the diaphragm and the stress therefrom carried over the shoulders and diagonally down to the side of the anterior member and thence rearwarclly'to the hip member and forwardly by the garters to be finally balanced by a direct backward force on the knee.

3. An undergarment comprising an anterior cloth member adapted to fit against the stomach of the wearer, diagonal side cloth members attached to each side of the anterior member and extending upwardly and rearwardly therefrom, diagonal elastic bands extending downwardly and rearwardly from said side members, diagonal hip cloth members extending downwardly and rearwardly from said elastic bands, and garters extending downwardly and diagonally from the said hip members, an elastic band connect-ing the hip members across the back below the waist, diagonal upper elastic members above the waist line, a cloth shoulder member uniting the upper elastic members, a brassiere. attached to the top of the anterior member, and shoulder straps connecting the I top of the brassiere to the shoulder member.

4. A brassiere, an upper posterior cloth member adapted to rest on the shoulder blades, shoulder straps connecting the brassiere and said upper posterior member, two

from said member and diagonal elastic side members uniting the said anterior member with said upper and lower posterior members, whereby the diagonal elastic members cooperating with the cloth members transfer a rearward effort against the knees, a forward efi'ort against the hips and shoulders 'anda lifting effort applied to the breasts to a vertical stress on the skeleton frame of the wearer.

6. A corset comprising at the back five elastic bands seamed alternately with five nonelastic cloth members, all of said pieces being diagonal to the vertical with two of the cloth members at the base, two at the side and one at the top, a front member of cloth having diagonal upper seams, intermediate cloth spacing bands between the front member and bias edges of the two cloth 'side members of the back, garters attached in pairs to the base cloth members of the back, the garters of each pair being at an angle to the vertical and adapted to reach around each side of a leg and meet a stocking at points equi-distant the median line of the front of the leg, and a brassiere attached to the diagonal seams of the upper part of the front member and havt ing shoulder straps connecting with the upper cloth member of the back.

LILLIAN E. SCOFIELD. 

